Scientology Charged With Slavery, Human Trafficking 802
eldavojohn writes "A formal complaint was filed in California (caged PDF) last week by John Lindstein naming David Miscavige and the Church of Scientology International as defendants. Lindstein claims that for sixteen years (from age 8) he was forced to work as a slave at Gold Base, a secret CoS site run by Golden Era Productions with 'razor wire, security guard patrols, surveillance posts, and three roll calls each day.' The pay was $50 a week. The allegations include 'Violations of wage and hour laws as well as unfair/illegal business practices actionable under California B&P 17200 Et. Seq.' and a complaint under the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution, which abolished slavery. Members of the group Anonymous praised the summons."
If he was paid $50, he wasn't a "slave" (Score:1, Funny)
Slaves aren't paid, last I checked. Did he file a 1099?
That's pretty evil. (Score:3, Funny)
First the Catholics with child rape, now the Scientologists with slavery and human trafficking.
Any wagers on which one true religion will be busted next?
Re:If he was paid $50, he wasn't a "slave" (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Classified as a religion? (Score:5, Funny)
Its called audit method R2-45. Two .45 cal slugs to the chest will release the thetans inhabiting even the most infected person.
Charged or charging? (Score:4, Funny)
I think the headline is wrong...they usually charge people for services, not vice versa! wtf?
Re:That's pretty evil. (Score:5, Funny)
> but you don't generally tell children that CEOs are trusted authority figures who deserve their respect and obedience.
Well, unless their name is Steve Jobs.
Re:That's pretty evil. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Yes... (Score:2, Funny)
Sounds like grad school to me...
Re:If he was paid $50, he wasn't a "slave" (Score:5, Funny)
You don't count being held in a compound surrounded by razor wire and forced to work 16-24 hours a day at age 8 as "involuntary servitude"?
No, obviously they do count that as involuntary, since the point was to contradict a post claiming this wasn't slavery due to him being paid. In other words, they are saying he was a slave.
This post has been brought to you by the Center For Explaining the Obvious to the Reading Comprehension Impaired, a tax-exempt religious charity organization that you can join and learn more about for the low low cost of $5000.
Re:Classified as a religion? (Score:3, Funny)
Ha. Ha. It's funny because it's true.
I read it like that in the voice of the character from Family Guy. It gave me a good laugh.
Re:That's pretty evil. (Score:3, Funny)
Hmm, how come every Scientology story must have some post diverting attention to Catholicism, trying to lend legitimacy to Scientology as a religion?
Snicker, snort. You're mistaking digs at Catholic Cultism for ascription of legitimacy.
Re:That's pretty evil. (Score:2, Funny)
Let's stick to the topic at hand, shall we?
Well, not everyone is using Verizon's FiOS [slashdot.org], like you are.
Congratulations Scientology... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:That's pretty evil. (Score:1, Funny)
Re:That's pretty evil. (Score:3, Funny)
Scientology is a religion in the same way as Dunkin Donuts is a restaurant
Re:Fighting Cults: Rick Ross (Score:1, Funny)
He's two letters away from Rick Roll.
Re:Scientology as a force for good? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:How Is This Nerd News??!! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Yes... (Score:5, Funny)
You could question the order of these two events.
Re:Scientology as a force for good? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:How Is This Nerd News??!! (Score:4, Funny)
I actually read the first half of Dianetics during a stint in a county jail, and quite a bit of it made sense.
Engrams, IIRC, are things that have happened to people during their childhood and are repressed to the point that they are damaging. A lot of what goes on in the "auditing" (again, IIRC) is equivalent to regressive hypno-therapy. Breaking down those walls could possibly open people up to entirely new aspects of life, and worlds of possibility.
Of course once the walls are broken down, they lay on the sci-fi-churchy-brainwashing-crapola. That is where I stopped reading.
When wikileaks first got famous in relation to Scientology, I grabbed copies of every available piece of CoS literature that I could download. Upon skimming through it I found there are some methods that seem quite useful as tools for training salespeople.
There are protocols where people train one another, for example one shouts obscenities at the other person nonstop for hours on end, and then the roles reverse and the training continues. Imagine how valuable this could be to salespeople, to make them immune to criticism and unafraid of verbal confrontation.
There are some good bits in the CoS materials, don't dismiss it out of hand.
The cult part of it is crap though. :)
And here is one for you, CoS - L. Ron Hubbard was a drunken pedophile who wishes he could lick the sweat out of my asscrack. Your religion is a cult, and your cult is worthless. Get a life, losers.
Word.
Re:Fighting Cults: Rick Ross (Score:3, Funny)
I had no idea Rick Ross [bet.com] went after the CoS when not rapping.
Re:If he was paid $50, he wasn't a "slave" (Score:5, Funny)
Do you have a pop psychology book and a secret black box with some electrodes I could tape to my skin?
I'm normally not supposed to answer questions like this until you pay the initial $5000 fee, but the answers respectively are "no, psychology is a mole-men conspiracy" and "yes, but the electrodes don't go on your skin, and you need lube not tape".
Re:FLSA (Score:3, Funny)
One of the more amusing bullshit-internet-debate tactics is the classic "my opponent is a plant!" This is obviously false to all readers, as plants are unable to type.